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COPYRIGHT PEPOSIT 



A Prayer 
Before the Lesson 



For superintendents and teachers in 

the Sunday-school and in the 

quiet hour at home 



By ^: 
Philip E^Heward 



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The Sunday School Times Company 
Philadelphia 



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Copyright, 191 i. 

by 

The Sunday School Times Company 



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FOREWORD 

One voho leads in prayer has the great 
responsibility and privilege of bringing to 
the throne of grace vohat he believes to be 
the heart-longings of his fettovo-voorship- 
ers, and the thoughts to which they 
foould voish to give expression in the 
Father's presence* Thanksgiving, praise, 
petition for forgiveness, the uttering of the 
soul's deepest needs and highest aspira- 
tions, definite prayer for persons and 
causes at home and abroad, the seeking 
of God's blessing upon the service of the 
hour — all these and many other elements 
enter into public prayer, 

Since this is true, the one vjho leads 
others in prayer <will seek to knovj their 
needs, their burdens^ their hopes and aims, 
and not to give expression so much to his 
ovon thought as to that vjhich he believes 
is, or ought to be, in the mind of those 
%>hom he leads. 



The superintendent or the teacher in 
the Sunday-school wilt not lead in prayer 
unthinkingly in behalf of those in the 
school or class, if he conceives his op- 
portunity and his privilege aright. He 
will pray sometimes with one or two per- 
sons definitely in mind, or again he will 
remember a neighborhood condition, or 
problem, or cause for especial gratitude. 
cAnd he will let his prayers take on the 
atmosphere of the lesson for the day, so 
that the school or class may be led, through 
prayer, to the vision of truth that will be 
revealed in the day's teaching. 

cAll this requires preparation, week by 
week, in the light of the lesson and the 
leader's knowledge of those whom he 
leads. This little book is not intended to 
replace preparation, but to encourage it, 
not by attempting a model prayer, always 
falsely so-called, but to record the prayer- 
thought of one who thus invites laymen 
like himself to consider and to practise 
the privilege of leading others in prayer. 



Genesis 39 : 20 to 40 : 15. 

OUR Father, the past week has 
gone hard with some of us. 
We have let sin get the upper 
hand just when we had thought we 
would not; we have chosen to do 
wrong in that hour when we closed 
our eyes to the light of thy word, and 
withdrew from the clasp of thy guid- 
ing hand, to seek our own way in the 
dark. Father, forgive us once again 
as we confess to thee our wilfulness. 
Help us to learn over again to-day 
the lesson of brave faithfulness to 
duty, and the sharp turning away from 
temptations that pull upon us so hard 
that we can scarcely keep from go- 
ing where they draw us. Help us to 
put no trust in ourselves, but to rest 
confidently in thy promised power 
for the breaking of the grip of tempta- 
tion — the very temptation that so far 
has overcome us most easily. In 
Jesus' name. Amen. 



Genesis 41 : 38-49. 

GOD of all wisdom, giver of every 
good gift, grant unto us, we 
pray thee, great wisdom in our 
teaching to-day. Lift before our eyes 
very clearly the vision of this thy 
servant of old, taking his wisdom 
from thee in word and deed, and com- 
ing into the free confidence of a great 
king because of what thou didst re- 
veal to him. Reveal to us, thy fret- 
ful, unquiet children, the foolishness 
of our futile gropings after the broken 
toys of our own notions. Bring us 
into the quiet waiting times, when 
we may have the patience to hear, in 
our play or in our work, the steady- 
ing word from thee, the call that bids 
us go or stay, work or rest, as thou, 
not we, may please. And whether 
thou callest us to high position or 
low, as the world counts, may we 
have the wisdom for the daily task, 
until the sun of life shall set, and the 
day's work is done. Amen. 
2 



Genesis 45 : 1-15; 50 : 15-21. 

AND now, our Father, we turn to 
the study of a lesson that will 
rightfully make us ashamed, — 
ashamed that we have not learned 
more by experience in the school of 
forgiveness. Thou hast forgiven us, 
in thy tender mercy, when we have 
confessed our sins; bring to our 
thought this day the brother whom 
we have never forgiven, for we yet 
remember bitterly the wrong; and 
may we forgive to the uttermost, even 
to forgetfulness. May we harbor no 
resentment, cherish no hope of retal- 
iation, nor keep about us in any way 
the least reminder of any wrong 
wrought upon us. May we never for- 
get that thou, who dost promise to 
put the sins of thy people out of thy 
remembrance, dost call upon us to be 
merciful and forgetful, doing good 
for evil, walking not with pride but 
with humility and forbearance among 
men. Amen. 



Exodus i : 1-14. 

OGOD of all power, who hast 
given unto men the power to 
overcome the evil that men 
would do, grant unto us the courage 
and strength to strive valiantly for 
the relief of those who are bond- 
slaves to-day because of man's greed 
for gain. Help us to remember the 
children whose lives are darkened, 
whose bodies are hindered, whose 
minds are shadowed by the toil of 
days and nights in shop and factory 
and mine; and may we do what thou 
canst enable us to do to set these 
children free. And if any one of us 
to-day is struggling on in the bondage 
of a self-made slavery to any wrong 
habit of thought or deed, merciful 
Father, may the bonds be broken 
quickly, and may there come into such 
a life the freedom of full surrender 
to thy will. Amen. 



Exodus 2 : 1-15. 

HOW tenderly, our Father, dost thou 
care for little children in all 
their ways! Thou dost keep 
them safe from harm in the midst 
of dangers seen and unseen; and thou 
dost protect them from the evils that 
would thwart thy purpose for them. 
And whether we are young in years 
or old, we know that thy care sur- 
rounds our waking and our sleeping, 
our work and our play; for how 
should we otherwise win through the 
dangers that threaten us all along the 
path? In remembrance of thy tender 
care over us, may we be sensitive to 
the needs of those about us whose 
burdens are grievous and not to be 
borne alone. Quicken our sym- 
pathies; remind us of the joy that can 
come into the lives of others through 
the little lift that we can give. Grant 
unto us such measure of service as our 
increasing willingness may enable us 
to undertake for thee. Amen. 
5 



Exodus 3 : 1-14. 

ALMIGHTY GOD, to whom we 
may not come save in reverence 
and humility, give us an open 
mind to receive thy message to-day. 
We have turned aside from the daily 
task; we stand upon holy ground; we 
await thy word. And whether thou 
dost call us to service that may seem 
too great or too small for us, may we 
go forward to answer thy call, remem- 
bering the certainty of thy presence 
with us in the doing of thy will. 
Teach us not to measure the bounds 
of the duties thou dost make ours by 
the variable measure of our own 
strength, but rather to do what thou 
dost command, with thy promises, and 
not our ability, as our sufficient en- 
couragement. Amen. 



Exodus 12 : 21-30. 

O DELIVERER of thy people, re- 
member this day the children of 
thy kingdom in all the earth. 
Free us, we beseech thee, from any 
bonds that hitherto have held us in 
slavery to any evil thing. Nothing is 
too hard for thee, and so many things 
are too hard for us! Help us to have 
reason for recalling this day as a 
time when thou didst enable us to go 
free, — free from the ruthless task-mas- 
ter of a habit of which we are 
ashamed, free from the fruitless serv- 
ing of sin. By the blood of thy son 
Jesus the Christ may we be cleansed 
unto righteousness and salvation, in 
an everlasting covenant with thee, the 
giver of the life abundant through the 
living and dying of our blessed Sav- 
iour, to whom be glory and honor, 
and our whole allegiance. Amen. 



Exodus 14 : 13-27. 

OUR Father, we have never yet 
trusted thee to the utmost of 
thy desire. We have chosen 
the seeming safety of slavery, instead 
of daring to take thee at thy word in 
following thee to freedom. If any 
of us this day would rather serve 
in bondage than take, if need be, the 
wilderness road with thee toward the 
promised land, may we hear and heed 
the heartening word of thy servant of 
old, "Jehovah will fight for you, and 
ye shall hold your peace." We thank 
thee that sea-barriers and wilderness 
wastes are as nothing to thee, when 
thou wouldst bridge the way for thy 
children from Egypt into Canaan. 
But may we set up no barriers of our 
untrustful forebodings against the 
working out of thy plans for us. 
Amen. 



Exodus 16 : 1-15. 

O FATHER in heaven, teach us 
how to trust thee. The very 
next time everything seems dark 
to us, help us to look up into thy 
face; then everything will be light. 
Show us how to live so close to thee 
that we will always see thy face; then 
there can never be any darkness in 
our lives. When trouble threatens us, 
may we remind ourselves, "Though 
I walk in the midst of trouble, thou 
wilt revive me." Forgive us when 
we hurt thee by doubting thee, and 
when we darken the lives of others 
by gloomy looks and frowning faces. 
Smile upon us, and may the sunshine 
thus received straight from thee be 
given out by us to all we meet, until 
our little world is made glad that 
we have been with thee. Amen. 



Exodus 20 : i-ii. 

LET thy guiding hand, O God, be 
upon us always. May we not 
pull away from thee. We have 
done this again and again, and so 
have brought disappointment and loss 
into our lives. Forgive us for the 
doubt of thee that makes us want our 
own way. May our love to thee grow 
until we are eager to do just what 
thou dost tell us; until we can sing 
with thy servant of old, "O, how love 
I thy law!" May we find the liberty 
thou hast promised those who follow 
thee, through Jesus Christ. Amen. 



10 



Exodus 20 : 12-17. 

FATHER, we thank thee for light 
on life. How blundering is our 
best effort! How clear and sure 
is thy call to us! Grant us this day 
a new sense of our oneness with oth- 
ers the world around. Teach us that 
duty is not shortened by the name we 
bear, and that in thought and deed 
we are ever influencing others whether 
we will or no. In honoring those to 
whom honor is due, in restraint of 
our passions, in remembering the 
rights of others, may we keep thy 
commands, not as dwelling apart from 
others, but as one with them in the 
living out of the lives thou hast given 
us. Amen. 



11 



Exodus 32 : 1-8, 30-35. 

FATHER, we have been warned 
to-day by the sins of these peo- 
ple of old, to be watchful against 
a like sin in our own lives. We are 
prone to take into our own blunder- 
ing hands the helm, and to lose pa- 
tience. Help us to trust thee without 
foolishly trying to hasten thy times 
of revelation and blessing. May we 
find in the quiet of this Sabbath day 
a renewing of our calm and trustful 
willingness to rest confidently, with- 
out any shadow of doubting, in thy 
sure promises and love. Amen. 



12 



Exodus 40 : 1-13, 34-38. 

ALMIGHTY God, deliverer of thy 
people from bondage by the 
wilderness way, who didst pro- 
vide for them guidance and sus- 
tenance, and a place of worship in 
accordance with their need, be with us 
this hour as we study the pages of 
thy holy Word. May thy glory be 
in this house, and in our hearts, fill- 
ing to the utmost the place where we 
love to meet, and the thoughts that 
crowd in upon us as we reflect this 
day upon thy merciful care and pro- 
vision for us. And whether we wor- 
ship thee in houses made with hands 
or in the quiet of our own prayerful 
up-reaching toward thee, may we be 
conscious of the manifold signs of thy 
grace and watch-care, and render unto 
thee a reverent and unwavering serv- 
ice of heart and head and hands, in 
full consecration of all our best to 
thee. Amen. 



13 



Leviticus 10 : i-ii. 

OGOD, we know that thy love is 
in thy judgments, and that in 
love thou hast set bounds about 
our doings. In keeping thy laws, we 
are but obeying the orderings of thy 
love. Grant that we may not fool- 
ishly refuse to abide by thy commands, 
and in our folly make wreck of our 
lives and the lives of others; but may 
we daily strive to find and to do thy 
will and not our own. Help us to live 
the clean and open life of those whose 
hearts are right with thee, and to 
make an unyielding fight for the over- 
coming of every temptation to give 
way to lower ideals and unworthy 
deeds. Amen. 



14 



Leviticus 16 : 5-22. 

OUR Father, we pray for mercy 
this day, because of our many 
wanderings from thee. Thou 
hast been patient with us beyond 
measure; thou hast loved us with an 
everlasting love, and yet v/e have done 
wrong in thy sight. O God of right- 
eousness, help us to keep a sure con- 
trol of our thoughts and deeds, so 
that we may not do that which is 
not in accord with thy will. Help us 
to do right, to have each day a clean 
page in the book of our lives. Send 
away from us our sins into the dark 
places of forgetfulness, and enable us 
to be pure and true and reverent at 
all times. When we are tempted may 
we remember the sinless Saviour, and 
in remembering him find strength to 
overcome. Amen. 



15 



Numbers 13 : 17-20, 23-33. 

WE THANK thee, our Father, 
that our ability is not to be 
measured by our strength* 
We thank thee that in our very weak- 
nesses thou dost find opportunity to 
teach us the reality of thy strength; 
that when we are weak then we are 
strong— in thee. Give us this day the 
needed courage to go forward with 
life's duties, fearing not the giants 
ahead, but rather the feeble wills 
within us, and the scant courage we 
find in our own hearts. Nay, Lord, 
may we cease to fear even these hin- 
drances, knowing that thou canst 
make us equal to any duty to which 
thou dost call us. Help us to think 
of thee, rather than of the obstacles 
in our path, and may we press on 
boldly toward whatever land of prom- 
ise thou hast set before us. Amen. 



16 



Deuteronomy 6 : 1-15. 

LOOK mercifully upon us, O God, 
this day as we confess unto thee 
our ungrateful forgetting of thee. 
We remember how easily we have ac- 
cepted thy good gifts, and how scan- 
tily we have rendered thanks unto 
thee for them. How generous thou 
art in thy bounty, in thy never fail- 
ing guidance; how thoughtless we 
have been in the enjoyment of our 
blessings! Help us to turn more of- 
ten to thee with simple words of 
thankfulness, — for health, for home 
and friends, for work and play, and 
for the quiet night of rest. And if 
any little success of ours should seem 
to be of our own strength of mind 
or body, grant unto us greater wis- 
dom than to think so foolishly of our 
doings, and teach us how utterly we 
must rest upon thee for the right 
outcome of any work committed to 
our care. Amen. 



17 



Deuteronomy 34 : 1-12. 

TO THIS hour thou hast led us, our 
Father. Every day thou hast 
walked with us in the way, and 
at night, when our eyes could not 
pierce the darkness and we were help- 
less in our blindness, thou hast 
watched over us in loving protection 
against harm. But may we remem- 
ber that darkness and light are as 
one to thee in thy care over us, and 
that in the light of day our own sight 
is never sure and sufficient, even as 
in the dark it is baffled and of no 
avail. Teach us our utter dependence 
upon thee, O God! May we rise this 
day not only to Pisgah heights of 
vision, but to a joyous trust in thee. 
And whether thou dost grant unto 
us long life or brief, may every day of 
it be crowded full of obedience to 
thee, according to the word of Jeho- 
vah. Amen. 



18 



Joshua i : i-ii. 

ALMIGHTY GOD, our Heavenly 
Father, we rejoice in thy 
strength to-day, and in the 
father-love which makes it possible 
for us to draw our strength from thee. 
Forgive our weak and futile attempts 
to do our work in our own strength. 
Forgive us for bemoaning our in- 
ability, when thou hast promised us 
ability in such measure as we need. 
Put new courage into our hearts this 
day, O God, — new courage to do right, 
to bear burdens lightly, to face hard 
duties with eager desire for the doing, 
and take away from us the last touch 
of sloth and cowardice and halting 
doubt as we go forward in the way 
thou hast chosen for us. May we 
no longer prefer the dangerous, softer 
ways of our own negligence, but 
rather the steady fight upward step 
by step with thee. Amen. 



19 



Joshua 6 : 8-20. 

LORD, increase our faith! May we 
be increasingly willing to do 
thy bidding without asking why. 
Help us to be content with less see- 
ing and more trusting. Thou know- 
est, Lord, that we lose no sleep over 
any anxious fear lest the earth should 
cease to swing in her orbit. Impress 
upon us the need of the same quiet 
trust in thy plans for us even in small 
things, and grant unto us the cour- 
age to conquer any obstacle in our 
path, if we have thy word of com- 
mand to go forward. Forgive us, in 
thy mercy, for our fondness for our 
own plans, and help us to have a keen 
zest for thy plans as unquestioning 
soldiers of the King. Amen. 



20 



Joshua 14 : 6-15. 

OUR Father, we are thankful to- 
day for the smallest opportun- 
ity to serve thee. Forgive, we 
beseech thee, our half-hearted serv- 
ice. Forgive us for dividing our 
strength between good and evil. We 
have sinned against thee in the fool- 
ish endeavor to serve thee devotedly 
while unwilling to give up that one 
habit of ours which is displeasing to 
thee because it harms us a little. 
Father, arouse us to singleness of aim, 
to freedom from hindering thoughts, 
to undivided straight-line service of 
thee. Oh, rid us by the indwelling 
pre-occupying presence of thy Spirit, 
from the hidden, lowbrowed wishes 
of our perverse and wilful natures, so 
that we shall desire supremely to do 
thy will. Amen. 



21 



Joshua 20 : 1-9. 

FATHER of mercies, we thank 
thee this day for thy loving for- 
bearance. Unmerited blessings 
have been poured out upon thy people 
from the treasury of thy love, and we 
think with contrite and grateful hearts 
of the distresses from which thou 
hast mercifully spared us. Thou art 
our refuge, for in thy presence is pa- 
tient and righteous judgment. We 
trust thee to deal with us in accord- 
ance with thy purpose to render us 
tested servants in right relations with 
thee and with our fellow-men. For- 
bid that we should knowingly sin in 
the vain hope that thou art ever ready 
to overlook our misdoings, and help 
us not to tax thy forbearance and pa- 
tience by our waywardness to-day. 
Amen. 



22 



Joshua 24 : 14-28. 

IN THE light of thine overflowing 
goodness to us, O Lord, our fitful 
and feeble service shames us. 
Thou dost never fail us. Day by day 
we receive untold blessings from thee, 
and our hearts are glad. Yet we are 
prone to forget thee, even in the day 
of thy supreme goodness to us, and 
our resolutions go down in ruins un- 
der the weight of our self-assurance 
and pride. O Lord, we beseech thee 
to keep us in keen remembrance of 
thy lovingkindness ! Grant that we 
may hold our purpose strong to serve 
thee, yielding not the least to the 
temptations that would draw us away 
from thee. Amen. 



23 



Judges 7 : 9-23. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
thou dost prepare the way for 
us whithersoever thou dost di- 
rect our footsteps. We rejoice in the 
knowledge that we are not to go for- 
ward for a single hour without thy 
direction, unless we wilfully leave 
thee. In love thou dost permit us to 
attempt hard things for thee, and in 
love thou walkest with us in the way, 
bearing the weight of the burden for 
us, under which our scanty strength 
would utterly fail. Help us this day 
to look forward joyfully to this 
blessed, hourly, daily partnership with 
thee, in which we bear so little, and 
thou, in thy mercy, dost bear the 
brunt of the task. Strengthen our 
hands and hearts for the little that 
thou art asking us to do, and help us 
to do our part less unworthily. Amen. 



24 



Judges 16 : 21-32. 

TO THEE we give thanks, our 
Father, for such measure of 
strength as thou hast given us. 
We thank thee for bodies strong for 
service, for minds that are able to 
think out our work, to understand our 
duty to thee. May it be far from us 
to destroy our strength of mind or 
of body through any yielding to sin. 
Help us to keep ourselves free from 
the weakening habit of low thoughts, 
and enable us, strong Son of God, to 
be strong in purity of thought and 
life, so that we may render unto thee 
the fullest service of which we are 
capable. Amen. 



25 



Ruth i : 14-22. 

WITH grateful hearts we thank 
thee, our Father, for the abid- 
ing love wherewith thou hast 
blessed us day by day. With thee is 
no variableness or shadow of turning. 
We pray that in our love toward oth- 
ers we may be constant and faithful. 
Teach us loyalty and unselfish de- 
votion to those to whom our love and 
devotion are due, and grant unto us 
the joy of yielding our own prefer- 
ences for the comforting and sustain- 
ing of others in their need of us. 
Amen. 



26 



i Samuel 3 : 1-21. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
thou dost call us more than 
once. While yet we did not 
know thee, thy voice came to us ap- 
pealingly, and we did not understand. 
Yet again thy voice sounded in our 
ears, and when we knew that it was 
indeed the Lord, we did not answer 
thee with such eagerness as Samuel, 
but hearkened as in sleep to thy call. 
Oh, arouse us, if any are in drowsi- 
ness and indifference of soul to-day, 
so that every one of us may answer 
thee speedily, and enter the service 
to which thou dost beckon us so 
lovingly and patiently. Amen. 



27 



i Samuel 8. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
thou hast not given us all that 
we have asked in our short- 
sighted prayers. When we have asked 
for a stone thou hast given us bread; 
when our heart-longings, our restless 
desires, have reached out for what we 
wrongly counted a blessing, thou hast 
stilled us into the peace of content- 
ment and gratitude because of thy lov- 
ing refusal. Help us, O God, to care 
less about what we want, and infi- 
nitely more about thy loving choice 
for us. We do not discern the line be- 
tween bane and blessing. Choose 
thou for us, and may we be joyfully 
content with thy choosing. Amen. 



28 



i Samuel 12. 

OUR Father, we have reason this 
day to thank thee for thy pa- 
tience with us. Again and again 
we have sinned wilfully against thee, 
and yet thou hast called us to fresh en- 
deavor toward Tightness, and thou 
hast not measured us by our sins, but 
by thy mercy, and thy high purposes 
for us. Make us by such training as 
we may need more mindful of thy pa- 
tient hope for our growth in the mas- 
tery over sin, and the willingness to be 
mastered by thy will. Amen. 



29 



i Samuel 15. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
thou dost call us to simple obe- 
dience — unquestioning obedi- 
ence that asks not why, but obeys. 
Oh, forgive the improvements that we 
try to make on thy plans. Help us to 
take thy loving commands as king's or- 
ders, and to go about the business 
upon which thou sendest us, without 
turning by a hair's breadth from the 
way thou dost point out. - Give us 
sharp hearing to catch thy lightest 
word, and simple directness in obedi- 
ence. Amen. 



3° 



i Samuel 16 : 1-13. 

LORD, who are we that thou 
shouldst choose us for high serv- 
ice in thy kingdom? If we were 
to be measured by man's judgment of 
us, who could stand in these places of 
privilege? But thou hast measured us 
by what thou dost rely upon us to do, 
and we pray that the kingly spirit may 
rule in us, making low things hateful 
to us, and high deeds of spiritual cour- 
age possible to us. As thou hast called 
us out of yesterday's duty into the new 
duty of to-day, wilt thou give to us, 
as thou didst give to David, new power 
to meet the new calls to special serv- 
ice. Amen. 



3* 



i Samuel 17 : 1 to 18 : 5. 

OUR Father, how can we thank 
thee enough for the victories of 
the past week? Thou hast 
armed us against the onset of brag- 
ging giants of temptation, by giving us 
power to use the weapons suited to 
our hands. The hopes of our friends 
for us; a growing hatred of sin; the 
rising courage of hearts that would be 
clean and strong; the clear knowledge 
that the challenges of evil must be 
boldly met; and above all, the keen 
sense of thy presence with us in the 
fight — for all this, and more, we thank 
thee to-day. Grant unto us this day 
the emerging of a new spirit of power 
from the broken strivings of our 
weaker selves, and the girding of our 
hearts and wills to meet without fear 
the issues of the days to come. Amen. 



32 



i Samuel 18 : 6-16. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
thy protecting care is ever round 
about thy threatened children. 
Through the midst of dangers known 
and dangers unguessed thou hast led 
us in safety, and we are here to-day to 
praise and magnify thy holy name. 
And we especially pray thee that thou 
wilt guard us from the danger of yield- 
ing to the bitterness of jealousy. Oh, 
how easily may any one of us be de- 
stroyed by that monster of our own 
making! Protect us, our Father, from 
the terrible ravages of his biting, ruin- 
ous presence in our souls, and may 
we be large enough and brave enough 
to rejoice over others' honors, thus 
honoring thee and escaping the black 
dishonor of hating others because of 
their loyalty to thee, and their up- 
lifting among the sons of men. From 
meanness and jealousy and hatred, de- 
liver us, O God, as from deadly 
plagues. Amen. 

33 



i Samuel 20. 

OUR Father, we remember with 
deep gratitude to-day that the 
disciples of thy Son Jesus were 
called by him his friends. In that up- 
lifting name is our hope, for we too 
would be friends of his; friends in our 
readiness to love and serve to the end 
of all our strength. Teach us this day 
the high privilege of service in friend- 
ship for the Friend by whose life alone 
are we at all able to understand what 
true friendship is. Help us to forego 
any selfish gains in our friendship with 
others, and to count our friendship as 
opportunities to give out our best to 
others. Amen. 



34 



i Samuel 26. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for the 
restraining touch of thy hand 
when we are moved to do evil. 
We thank thee for the higher motives 
from thee that have won the fight in 
us against the lower motives from 
within, and for the joy we have been 
privileged to know in overcoming. 
Forgive us, we pray thee, for those 
hours of weakness and wilful sinning, 
when we have not listened to thy 
voice, when we have drawn stubbornly 
away from thy guiding hand. May 
such black hours find no place in the 
record of the days to come. May we 
have freedom from the passion for re- 
venge and from the blind hatred by 
which we stumble and fall into sorrow 
and shame, and create in us, we be- 
seech thee, generosity of heart and act 
in all our dealings with the unfriendly 
round about us. Amen. 



35 



i Samuel 31. 

HOW lovingly thou hast led us, O 
God, some of us these many 
years, along life's pathway. In 
honor and in dear friendships many 
of us dwell, whose long service for 
thee has won the silvery crown, to be 
over-crowned some day by the dia- 
dem of thy praise, "Well done, good 
and faithful servant." And our hearts 
are sad when we think of the king of 
thy choice, who would not choose for 
himself kingly obedience to thee, and 
thus grow into honor, but who chose 
rather his own will, and died miser- 
ably. O thou King of kings, defend us 
from wilfulness, from the wrong exer- 
cise of that marvelous power, the will, 
that thou hast put so freely at our 
command. Sustain in every one of us 
the living sense of obligation to obey 
thy will, and thus keep us in remem- 
brance of the one sure way to rightful 
service and thine own approval. 
Amen. 

36 



2 Samuel 2 : 1-17; 5 : 1-5. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for the 
strength that thou dost give us 
to meet new and untried duties. 
We thank thee that true obedience is 
not a slavish, unlovely, and grudging 
following of thy will, but ever a joy- 
ous entering into the spirit of thy 
high purposes for us. May we gain 
the strength that comes from such 
obedience. Help us to face and to do 
the duty of the hour without flinch- 
ing, and to rise into the kingly walk 
of glad obedience to thee. Amen. 



37 



2 Samuel 6. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that in 
all the ages men have exalted 
thy name in worship and in 
praise. We thank thee that in the old 
days and in our day great sacrifices 
have been made by men everywhere 
to maintain the house of worship, 
whether the little prairie cabin, or the 
splendid cathedral in the city's heart. 
Help us to realize anew the meaning 
and the privilege of worship; the 
worth of ideals set before us in every 
altar, every house of worship; and 
grant that we in our turn may not be 
forgetful of our duty to hold in high 
honor the visible signs of men's love 
for thee, and of thy presence with 
them. Amen. 



38 



2 Samuel 9. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
good deeds are not forgotten 
by those who are worthy of 
them, that true friendship remem- 
bers lovingly and does not coldly 
forget. Grant that we may never 
so take for granted the ministry of 
others in our lives that we shall for- 
get how much we owe to those who 
have helped us. May that memory 
last from generation to generation, 
and never die in us by reason of 
the frosts of forgetfulness. Keep, 
we pray thee, the lamp of gratitude 
burning brightly in all our thought 
of those who have given us a help- 
ing hand at any time. It is so easy, 
O Father, for us to forget! Forbid 
that we shall thus dishonor the love 
that our friends have had toward us. 
Amen. 



39 



2 Samuel 15. 

OUR Father, we lift up our hearts 
in gratitude to thee for the 
great fact of thy fatherhood. 
We plead thy forgiveness for our un- 
faithful sonship, and for the hours of 
wilful turning away from thee. Keep 
us, we beseech thee, from betraying 
thy love; from the sin of ingratitude; 
from the bitterness of causing thee a 
father's grief over a son disobedient 
and false; and grant us daily strength 
to do the things that please thee, and 
to bar from our doings the ravenous 
sins that crowd in upon us to maim 
and destroy us. Trustfully we look 
to thee for the quickened sense of 
loyal sonship in all our thoughts and 
deeds. Amen. 



40 



2 Samuel 18. 

TO THEE we look, our Father, in 
humble gratitude for thy father- 
hood. Have we pained thee be- 
cause of our waywardness? Then are 
we akin to the wretched son of whom 
we read to-day, and our shame is 
great. Forgive us that we have ever 
returned thy love by disloyalty; for- 
give us for disappointing thy Son our 
Saviour and Elder Brother! Help us, 
we beseech thee, so to live that the 
day may not be shadowed by any 
cause of grief to thee through our wil- 
fulness. Oh, help us to give back thy 
love in loving thoughts and deeds, 
and in clean, unswerving, upstanding 
loyalty to thee. Amen. 



4» 



i Kings i : i to 2 : 12. 

LORD of Lords, and King of kings, 
by whose grace the rulers of the 
nations have power, we thank 
thee for thy care over thy people of 
old in providing leaders for their day 
of great need. Increasingly, with the 
onward march of the years, thou hast 
granted unto thy people in all the 
earth wider visions of opportunity, 
and men of vision to lead in crises of 
growth. Grant unto us in these days 
of national problems, men of wisdom, 
men of devotion, men who serve for 
the common good and not for self, 
who shall lead us by right paths to 
worthy ends. And may thy Kingdom 
come in very truth, we pray in the 
name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. 



42 



i Kings 3 : 4-15. 

OUR Father, with whom is all wis- 
dom and understanding, we 
thank thee that we who lack 
both may come confidently to thee to 
supply our need. Even in our asking 
we blunder, for we are so beset by un- 
worthy desires that we are prone to 
call evil good, and good evil. Through 
the saving blood of thy Son Jesus 
Christ, cleanse us from our low seek- 
ings, and grant an understanding 
heart even to the most stupid of us, 
to the end that we may have a bal- 
anced, sensitive judgment in the com- 
mon daily task, and freedom from the 
disappointments of empty outreaching 
toward still emptier acquirings. We 
ask it in the name of Jesus, our Lord, 
who hast set before us the upward 
way of worthy strivings. Amen. 



43 



i Kings 8. 

HERE in thy house, O God, we 
meet to study thy Word, to sing 
praises unto thee. And our 
study and our praise are set about with 
thankfulness for so great privileges. 
How quiet it is within this room! 
What peace we have within these 
walls; what visions of thy love and 
mercy, what glad hopes and new cour- 
age come to us as we bow our heads 
in prayer before thee! Lord, grant 
that the soul life of our every day may 
be more filled with a sense of thy 
presence. O Jesus, Saviour, be with 
us in very truth here and in our daily 
walk, and cleanse us from the un- 
worthiness that makes us less truly 
the temple of the Holy Spirit. May 
he come without hindrance to dwell in 
us, in the name of Jesus Christ, our 
Lord. Amen. 



44 



i Kings ii : 4-13. 

LORD JESUS, we rejoice in thy 
coming to the hearts of men. 
Thy life and thy love were re- 
vealed to mankind in the distant past; 
but to some of us only a little while 
ago thou didst fully come, because it 
was only so late that we have been 
willing to open wide the door. How 
great is the gift of thyself! How little 
have we to give to thee! O Master, 
we pray that thy love may become 
very life to many a halting, growth- 
less soul among us, and that the joy 
of this thy birthday season may be the 
holier and sweeter for the birth of 
some of us into the new, free, abound- 
ing life of service to thee. Amen. 



45 



i Chronicles 17. 

OUR Father, our gratitude to thee 
for unnumbered blessings is 
ever mingled with amazement 
over thy tender forbearance. Who 
are we that thou hast poured out 
upon us such abundance of lovingkind- 
ness? We wonder at thy love; we 
wonder at our lack of steadfastness; 
and through it all we still lift up our 
voices in gratitude to thee for all 
thy mercies. Grant that we may 
not forget how great things thou 
hast done for us. Teach us to ac- 
cept thy promises as unfailing be- 
cause they are thy promises. What 
proof do we need of thy kept 
promises other than to remember 
that thou hast indeed made them? 
And may we go on confidently 
about our daily work, resting in 
the sure knowledge of thy care and 
purpose in our lives. Amen. 



46 



Psalm 23. 

JESUS, thou shepherd of the sheep, 
we rejoice in thy shepherding 
love. To thee we are not un- 
known. Our weaknesses are thy care. 
Our wanderings do not lead us away 
from thy yearning love. All we like 
sheep have indeed gone astray, but 
thou, the good shepherd, hast not 
shortened thine arm, or ceased to seek 
us for our enfolding in the security of 
thy presence. We remember to-day 
the still waters, reflecting thy face; 
the green pastures out of the abund- 
ance of the Father's provision for us; 
the courage that came to us in the 
valley. Lord Jesus, shepherd us yet 
a little while by the wayside, until all 
our follies and dulness of soul shall 
pass away with the ending of our pas- 
ture-days, and we are gathered into 
the fold beyond the shadow, to thy 
presence at the right hand of God. 
And this we ask in glad knowledge of 
thy love. Amen, 

47 



Psalm 32. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
the burden of sin need not be 
ours to bear. If it were not 
for thy forgiveness, how could we 
sustain the remembrance of our 
wrong-doing? We thank thee that 
thou dost even forget our misdeeds 
in thy acceptance of true repentance. 
And since thou dost forgive and for- 
get, we pray that the sense of forgive- 
ness may be so real to us, its joy so 
abiding, that we too may indeed for- 
get the wilful past in our lives. But 
may we never forget the ever-pres- 
ent need of thy strength to keep 
to-day's record free from shame. 
May we not get comfortably used to 
the ups and downs of falling into sin 
and rising from it, but may we be so 
stirred with a God-given discontent 
that we shall come to hate with a ruth- 
less hatred the low levels, and fight 
our way steadily up to the higher 
levels of daily living. Amen. 
48 



Proverbs 23 : 29-35. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee that 
thou hast indeed overcome the 
world. And we rejoice that the 
world need not overcome us, if we ac- 
cept thy strength for our task. Help 
us, we pray thee, to dare the day's 
struggle against temptation, to set bar- 
riers against the incoming of evil 
thoughts and deeds, and may we love 
purity and righteousness so genuinely 
that we shall lose the liking for our 
lower longings. May they become 
hateful to us, and no part of our 
thought at any time. Put iron into our 
feeble wills, and may we be clean of 
all indulgence in things that are evil. 
Amen. 



49 



Isaiah 5 : 11-23. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
teaching us to see the empti- 
ness of evil and the gain of 
good; the glory of a character grow- 
ing into service, and the gloom of a 
life that will not discern between good 
and evil. Keep us, O God, in our daily 
living, from the ruinous mixture of 
right and wrong that would compro- 
mise with evil, and help us, we pray 
thee, not only to see the straight, clean 
way, but to dare to follow it unswerv- 
ingly. How else may thy will be done 
in us, and thy Kingdom come, to rule 
in human hearts? We look to thee 
confidently, and into our own foolish 
doings with shame, as we pray for the 
gift of clear eyes and courageous 
hearts. Amen. 



50 



Isaiah 28 : 1-13. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
the unblemished life that men 
could not have known without 
thee. Help us to keep faith with thy 
pure purposes for us, as thou dost call 
us to follow thee. May we not drag in 
the mire the crown of strength thou 
hast given us for mind and body, and 
may we be sensitive to the least hint 
of coming temptation, so that we may 
meet the onset with decisive overcom- 
ing courage even unto victory. Here 
in our land where so many have gone 
down under the bitter curse of drink, 
may there be such an uprising of the 
people against the traffic of sorrow 
and despair, that we shall dwell in the 
very noon-tide of a new day for every 
community where the curse has pre- 
vailed. We ask it in the name of him 
who came to bring life and not death 
to the world. Amen. 



5i 



Isaiah 43 : 2. 

AS OUR thoughts turn back over 
the quarter's lessons, we pray 
thee, our Father, to help us to 
see the golden thread of thy promises 
running through all the web of life. 
With Jacob we look up through the 
night into the glory of an angel vis- 
ion, and we hear thy word, "I am with 
thee"; we go with Joseph on the dusty 
way to bondage, and we rise with 
him through God-led faithfulness to 
power for good over others and into 
the little company of earth's finer 
souls who know how to forgive; we 
see thy people downtrodden and op- 
pressed, and the coming of a little 
child among them who became the 
colossal burden-bearer of his day,— 
and we hear thy word yet again: 
"Certainly I will be with thee." In 
that dark hour when foes pressed 
hard and the impassable sea stood 
guard over the way to freedom, thy 
power, O Lord, was abroad in the 
52 



Isaiah 43 : 2. 

night; thou didst command the sea 
to stand aside, and thy people passed 
on in safety. Yet, again, do we hear 
thy word, "When thou passest through 
the waters, I will be with thee; and 
through the rivers, they shall not 
overflow thee." In the light of these 
great lessons may we trust thee more 
freely, and render unto thee more 
faithful service, through the power 
of thy Son, our Deliverer and Guide. 
Amen. 



53 



Matthew 2 : 1-12. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
thy Son Jesus Christ became 
brother and friend and Sav- 
iour, dwelling among men for our 
saving. We thank thee that he 
counted himself a shepherd, and us 
as his flock, dealing patiently with 
our stupidity and waywardness, en- 
folding us in loving care and tender 
mercy. We rejoice because of his 
never-failing guidance, his strong, sure 
hand outreached to hold us to the way 
of righteousness. In this Christmas 
season may we find joy in giving of 
our, best to others, to the giving of our 
very selves in glad service, so walking 
in the footsteps of our Lord and 
Master Jesus Christ. Amen. 



54 



Matthew 3 : 1-12. 

LORD JESUS, to whom we turn in 
the opening of our new year of 
study, we rejoice in thy revealing 
of the Father's love to man. We praise 
thy name, that name above every 
name, because thou art indeed very 
Son of God, and yet brother to us in 
our humanity. Thou hast lived the 
earth life unsoiled by its touch. Thou 
hast toiled and suffered; thou hast 
known the joys and the sorrows of our 
little day, and we gladly follow thy 
loving leadership into the unknown 
paths of the new year. Be with us, we 
beseech thee, in the light and in the 
shadow, and may we know thee more 
fully, and serve thee more devotedly 
with the unfolding of thy truth and 
life. Amen. 



55 



Matthew 3 : 13-17; 4 : 1-11. 

OUR Father, we stand amazed in 
the light of thy forgiving love. 
How often have we broken our 
word to thee! How readily have we 
turned away from thee to sin, when we 
have been tempted! We have forgot- 
ten that we are sons, and have chosen 
to be strangers. Press in upon us, we 
beseech thee, the deep meaning of this 
lesson to-day, so that when we are 
tempted we may temember the 
tempted and yet sinless Saviour, who 
is so ready to save us from falling into 
sin. Cleanse us, we pray thee, from 
the desire for evil, and help us to meet 
sturdily and humbly, in reliance upon 
thee, every test that comes. In Jesus' 
name. Amen. 



56 



Matthew 4 : 12-25. 

LORD JESUS, by whose voice the 
fishermen were called to a better 
fishing, constrain us, we pray 
thee, by that same loving call, to fol- 
low thee to the saving of others. 
Thou hast indeed been calling us this 
great while, as we listened indiffer- 
ently, and turned to our small tasks 
once more. But now we are longing 
for the same spirit that drew the fish- 
ermen straightway to thy side for 
service. Grant that we may be swift 
to answer thee, and to take on the true 
spirit of thy ministry. Amen. 



57 



Matthew 5 : 16. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
the keen truth of thy teachings, 
searching out the untruth in our 
common notions of blessedness. Cure 
us, we pray thee, of our selfishness 
and greed; our love of power for the 
sake of power, and our clumsy and 
foolish pride. Open to us to-day clear 
visions of a better way, and help us to 
understand the blessedness of service 
in thy Kingdom. And grant unto us, 
we pray thee, a spirit of readiness to 
believe and to bear the high and glori- 
ous standards of thought and action 
set forth in thy Word, without lower- 
ing them to suit our weakness. Amen. 



58 



Matthew 5 : 17-26, 38-48. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
the voice of thy Son Jesus calls 
us over the tumult of life's con- 
fusion of voices, always with patient 
love and clear certainty. So much 
we have heard from the voices of half- 
truth that we listen with relieved in- 
tentness when he speaks. Quicken our 
ears to-day while he speaks to us of 
the Kingdom, and help us to be loyal 
subjects of the King of kings, in 
obedience and faithful service. Amen. 



59 



Matthew 6 : 1-15. 

OUR Father, help us to be more 
simple in our ways. Help us to 
care less about the whimsical 
favor of the world and more, far more, 
about right doing. Teach us the joy 
of doing good deeds without noise or 
praise, and the blessing of unheralded 
service to humble people who can 
never repay. We remember with 
shame the many times we have been 
moved to tell of our own well-doing. 
Forgive us, O God, for our petty 
pride and self-seeking, and cleanse 
us from hypocrisy; in Jesus* name. 
Amen. 



60 



Matthew 6 : 19-34. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
the never-failing encouragement 
that thou dost give us in our up- 
ward strivings. Over against the 
temptation to be content with low 
ideals thou dost set before us the op- 
portunities of high endeavor. When 
we would seek selfish ends thou dost 
remind us by noble lives around us, by 
the life of thy Son Jesus Christ, that 
outgoing service for others is the path 
of privilege and duty. Keep us, we 
pray thee, from the sin of seeking 
second-best achievements, the lesser 
good, and the cheap and empty gains 
of a life of casual drifting with the 
tides of unworthy desires. In Jesus' 
name we ask it. Amen. 



61 



Matthew 7 : 1-12. 

LORD JESUS, help us to be more 
gentle in our judgments, more 
tender in our consideration for 
others. May we not speak harsh 
words of others under the bitter im- 
pulse of hate or jealousy. Help us, we 
pray thee, to remember with humility 
how much we have tried thee with our 
petty meanness, our waywardness, our 
headstrong sinning. Grant us, we be- 
seech thee, a readier interest in the 
needs of our brothers, and greater 
care in our words and ways, so that 
we shall not be unfair or hurtful, or 
in any way do wrong toward our 
brother. Make us valiant in the fight 
against every evil that besets us in 
these days of struggle for the right, 
and especially bless with power all 
who are striving to blot out the dread- 
ful traffic in strong drink, and the use 
of it from among the sons and daugh- 
ters of the earth. In thy name we 
ask it. Amen. 

62 



Matthew 7 : 13-29. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for the 
daily ministry of Jesus, thy Sor^ 
wrought out among men. We 
are ashamed of our much speaking and 
our scanty doing, when we think of 
his perfect combining of words and 
work. Help us, we pray thee, to prom- 
ise less and to do more; to put more of 
our strength into doing and less into 
mere intentions. Cultivate us, we pray 
thee, by harrow and pruning-knife as 
thou seest best into a more worthy 
fruit-bearing for thy service, and cast 
us not aside as hopeless. Thou know- 
est our need for training. Purge us 
of corruption, and prepare us in thine 
own good ways for yielding blessing 
to others. In Jesus' name we ask it. 
Amen. 



63 



Matthew 8 : 2-17. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
the healing touch of thy love. 
Unclean and damaged as we are 
through sin, yet in us thou seest 
the hidden promise of purer living 
through thy life in us. Enter thou in, 
we beseech thee, to renew and restore 
the lost wholeness, and awaken in us 
an unending desire for purity of body 
and soul. Thou who gavest cleansing 
to the leper, power to the powerless, 
rest to the restless, peace to the un- 
quiet, give unto us, we pray thee, these 
blessed provisions of thy love, to the 
end that we may render unto thee a 
less unworthy service. Amen. 



64 



Matthew 8 : 23-34. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
the assurance of safety in thy 
presence. Thou art Lord of 
every barrier against the harm that 
hovers near. Thou hast hindered and 
halted the enemies of our soul when 
we were in fear of destruction, and thy 
hand hath led us in security through 
dangers seen and unseen. Quiet, we 
pray thee, the dark forebodings of 
evil, the distresses of a fear-filled 
spirit, and help us to establish in our 
heart of hearts the peace which brings 
power for service, in calm confidence 
in thy prevading, protecting love. 
Amen. 



65 



Matthew g : 1-13. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
the abundant life that thou didst 
bring to thy followers. How 
rich in peace and power, how lavish 
in service, how joyous and strong was 
that life in thee! Quicken us, we be- 
seech thee, out of the unprofitable 
palsy that keeps us bedridden in the 
heart of the busy life about us. How 
sickly our nerveless efforts! How 
great a burden we have been to our 
friends when we have not risen out 
of impotence even at thy call! May 
we hear thee to-day, and arise. May 
we be more like thee in thy burning 
zeal to serve, to pour out life in swift, 
incessant deeds for the needy of body 
and soul. And guard us against the 
fear of overwork, for do we not have 
life and power from thee, sufficient 
for every duty? May we rise to the 
day of our opportunity, and spend our- 
selves like a torrent from the inex- 
haustible springs of the hills. Amen. 
66 



Matthew 9 : 18-34. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
the abounding, overflowing life, 
thy gift to man. Endlessly thou 
hast poured forth thy power into the 
lives of the weary and broken of body 
and soul, and yet thou art not weary 
of helping! Move thou among us this 
day, we beseech thee, taking from us 
our distresses, opening our eyes, and 
removing far from us the evil that 
most easily holds us in bondage. May 
we have faith to trust thee in our help- 
lessness, rejoicing in thy power made 
perfect in our weakness. Amen. 



67 



Matthew 9 : 35 to 10 : 15, 40-42. 

LORD JESUS, by thy sending we 
have entered into service for 
thee, and all our way has been 
set about with blessings. Thou hast 
given us hard work to do, many 
friends to encourage us, and strength 
for the daily task. For all this we 
thank thee with glad hearts. Help 
us, we pray thee, to be more trust- 
ful as we remember thy goodness to 
us; more courageous as we realize 
that thou art with us; more eager to 
give of our best as we recall thy 
bountiful gifts to us. Forbid that we 
should have the treasures of thy 
truth for ourselves alone. May we be 
spendthrift in our service, pouring out 
life for thee! Amen. 



68 



Matthew n : 1-19. 

LORD JESUS, by many loving 
deeds thou hast made thyself 
known to us, and to thee we look 
in gratitude for thy manifold mercies. 
Thou hast touched with thy power the 
slow purposes of our souls, and thou 
hast quickened us into service. When 
we have been blind to the truth, the 
veil has been lifted by thy revealing 
hand. When we have halted and 
stumbled in the daily round of plain 
duty, thou hast upheld us with thy sus- 
taining hand, urging us on in reliance 
upon thee. Quiet, we pray thee, our 
doubts and our fears. May we care 
less about the vision that struggles to 
see beyond the day, and more about 
the faith that rests confidently in thy 
sure presence in our lives. In thy life- 
giving name we ask it. Amen. 



69 



Matthew n : 20-30. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
the clear signals along the way, 
to warn us of danger. We thank 
thee that thou hast not left us to our 
own foresight, blind and mistaken at 
its best, but that we may have thee for 
guide through dangers seen and un- 
seen. Forgive us for our unheeding, 
wilful pride, our foolish self-reliance, 
our satisfaction with sin, and arouse 
us, we pray thee, to a sense of our deep 
need of thee. May we hear the tender 
invitation of thy Son Jesus Christ, to 
be at rest in the midst of the heavy 
daily work, to become yoke-fellows 
with him, while he shares our burdens 
to their light carrying because of his 
fellowship in toil. In his dear name 
we ask it. Amen. 



70 



Matthew 12 : 1-14. 

LORD of the Sabbath, we thank 
thee for rest in the heart of toil, 
for the quiet of this thy day. To 
thee we lift our songs of praise for 
all thy benefits, and before thee we 
bow in humble gratitude for all thy 
mercies. May we find rest this day 
in glad service for thee, in fellowship 
with one another in the home, and in 
this thy house of prayer and worship. 
Relieve, we pray, the strain of the 
week-day work in the turning of our 
thought into quieter channels of wor- 
ship. May this be no idle day, but a 
day of rest in loving service. May we 
give food to the hungry of soul, and 
take away the despair and distress 
of those who are bowed down with 
care or infirmity. May thy peace be 
upon us and upon thy people every- 
where on this thy holy day. Amen. 



7 1 



Matthew 12 : 22-32; 38-42. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
thy clear call to us, sounding 
above the "murmurs of self- 
will." Thou hast taught us by un- 
numbered blessings how great is thy 
love for us. Thou hast set before us 
times without number, in the word of 
teacher and preacher, in the daily life 
of thy children round about us, a 
revelation of thy power and presence. 
If any here this day have not yielded 
in full surrender to thee, may thy 
call be made so plain, thyself so pres- 
ent in the teaching, in this hour, that 
many may be turned to thee as Lord 
and Saviour. May we be at one in 
this school in fellowship with thee 
and with one another as thy faith- 
ful friends in the work of thy king- 
dom. Amen. 



72 



Matthew 13 : 1-9, 18-23. 

OUR Father, how patiently thou 
hast cultivated the unpromising 
soil that we are! Thou hast 
sowed the truth broadcast among us, 
and we have not been the good 
ground. Help us this day, we pray 
thee, to hear thy Word, to under- 
stand it, and to bring forth fruit in 
word and deed for thee. Oh, grant 
that nothing in us may, thorn-like, 
choke the good seed that would grow 
into fruitage. Keep us sensitive, we 
beseech thee, to the message of thy 
Word in this hour of study and of 
praise. In Jesus' name we ask it. 
Amen. 



73 



Matthew 13 : 24-30, 36-43. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for thy 
patience with us, for thy con- 
straining love. We are strange 
mixtures of good and evil, and we are 
ashamed to look straight up to thee, 
because we have let evil so often have 
the management of us. Father, we 
are in the world, indeed, but we long 
to be less worldly. We are pressed 
with temptations on every hand. The 
very roots of our life are tangled with 
the choking roots of deadly sin. O 
Lord of the harvest, may we not be 
cleared of the hold that the world 
has on us? Free us, we beseech thee, 
not from toil, or the needs of others, 
or the problems of the working hours, 
but from sin. May we be true to the 
Kingdom of Heaven, meeting bravely 
the daily duty, and patiently working 
for the Lord of the harvest until the 
long day is golden with the sunset. 
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 



74 



Matthew 13 : 3i-33> 44-52. 

HOW patiently thou hast con- 
strained us, O Master of the 
heart, to be obedient in word 
and deed and spirit to the laws of thy 
Kingdom. Give unto us, we beseech 
thee, a clear understanding of our duty 
as followers of thine in the up-build- 
ing of thy Kingdom in all the earth. 
May we live not unto self, but unto 
thee, in the service of others. May 
we teach by word and deed the right- 
eousness, and peace, and joy that are 
of thee in thy reign among men, now 
and always, and may we in our homes, 
at our work and play, wherever we 
are, be true to thee in all things as 
good and faithful servants of the 
King. Amen. 



75 



Matthew 14 : 1-12. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
we are not without the record 
of brave deeds for thee. We 
are reminded in thy Word of the 
selfless daring of many a servant of 
thine in the faithful doing of duty. 
Cleanse us, we pray thee, from the 
taint of cowardice in our own lives, 
the craven fear of the consequences 
of right-doing. Put courage into our 
wavering spirits, and may we dare to 
speak out against evil, dare to stand 
bodly for righteousness at any cost. 
In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. 



76 



Matthew 14 : 13-21; 15 : 29-39. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
thine unfailing provision for our 
every need. Thou hast never 
sent us away from thee to the shal- 
low sources of the world's unsatisfy- 
ing gifts, but from thy Father's treas- 
ure-house thou hast drawn in liberal 
bestowal upon us the fulfilling of our 
need. Forgive us, we beseech thee, 
for the selfishness of our ungrateful 
hearts; for we have been sparing in 
our gifts to others, heedless of our 
duty to feed the hungry of soul and 
body, the thirsty, the forlorn and 
lonely. May we learn how to spend 
ourselves, how to give ourselves with 
the gift, and may we remember not 
our poverty, but thine own inexhaust- 
ible riches abounding unto us and to 
all this needy world. Amen. 



77 



Matthew 14 : 22-36. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
thy presence in storm and stress 
as in every hour of our need. Thou 
art there, though we may not see 
thee as friend and helper because of 
our blindness. Thy word brings cour- 
age to drive away our fears; thy 
hand stretched forth lifts us into a 
knowledge of thy power, and we are 
ashamed of our lack of faith. How 
slow we are to learn thy readiness to 
fulfill our every need! How timid we 
have been, when thou hast courage 
to give us! Cleanse us, we beseech 
thee, from this unworthiness, so that 
we may be free from the weight of 
fear that drags us down even in thy 
presence. Help us not to be over- 
come by our weaknesses, but to be 
sustained by thy strength, as faith- 
filled brethren of thine. Amen. 



78 



Matthew 15 : 21-28. 

LORD JESUS, we turn to thee 
in gratitude for thy cleansing 
power. Thou hast broken the 
grip of sin; thou hast opened wide the 
doors of freedom to us, disclosing 
the way to life eternal. Keep us, we 
pray thee, from the harboring of evil 
thoughts and wicked desires. Cleanse 
us from every lingering sinful pur- 
pose, and drive out from us any evil 
spirit that has claimed possession of 
any part of our being. May we live 
in faith, looking to thee for the doing 
of whatever work must be done in us 
to bring us into communion with thee. 
Amen. 



79 



Matthew 16 : 13-28. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
revealing thyself so clearly in 
thy work and thy word that we 
do not need to have any doubt about 
thyself. Help us, we pray thee, to be 
bold in the stand we take before all 
the world as thy loving followers, and 
may we not be willing to hide in the 
dark the gospel truth that thou hast 
sent into our lives, or our belief in 
thee. Forgive us, we beseech thee, 
for our cowardly silence; for our fool- 
ish delay in acknowledging thee; for 
our shifting allegiance under the stress 
of temptation, and for our unwilling- 
ness to do the work that is just at 
hand in leading others to thee by the 
word spoken directly and definitely. 
Stir us, we pray thee, by the knowl- 
edge of thy sacrifice, to deny ourselves, 
to put self out of our thought, and 
take up the cross and follow thee 
without questioning. In thy name we 
ask it. Amen. 

80 



Matthew 17 : 1-8, 14-20. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
the knowledge of thee that has 
come to us down the centuries. 
We have been on the mountain with 
thee when we have shut our eyes to 
the world, and have followed thee in 
spirit to the quiet places of prayer. 
We have seen thee in the changed 
lives of our friends; we have known 
that thou art with us by thy saving 
power, and we will indeed hear thee. 
Speak thou to us, Lord Jesus. Make 
us useful. Make us humble. Help us 
to be faithful and not perverse. Lord 
Jesus, may we be less trouble to thee, 
coming steadily into closer fellow- 
ship by thy grace and our obedience 
and faith. In thy name we ask it. 
Amen. 



81 



Matthew 18 : 21-35. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for the 
unspeakable breadth of thy for- 
giveness. As far as the east 
is from the west dost thou remove our 
transgressions from us. Forgive us, 
we pray thee, for remembering the 
wrongs that others have done to us, 
when thou dost forget our sins against 
thee. Help us to be more ready to 
forgive. Help us to overlook the 
slights that trouble us so; to see good 
motives where we have imagined only 
bad; to be more generous, more fair 
in our thought of others. Lord, help 
us to learn how to forget, and to take 
no pride in forgiving. May we re- 
member with humility our own deep 
need of forgiveness, and be kind. In 
Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. 



82 



Matthew 19 : 1-2, 13-26. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee that 
thy word is among us with its 
warnings, and its high call to 
service. Move us, we pray, from our 
stolid selfishness to a ready following 
of thee. Stir us to a devotion that 
never counts its deeds by measure, or 
holds back anything from thee. Thou 
knowest the sordidness of our souls. 
Thou knowest where we most easily 
fail. And thou, O gracious Redeemer, 
canst work in us the saving of such as 
we are to a life of consecration to 
thee. Lord Jesus, be thou our su- 
preme desire. How shallow and 
empty is all else! Help us, we be- 
seech thee, to break loose from the 
bondage of any hope, any wish, any 
purpose that could hinder our fellow- 
ship with thee now and forevermore. 
Amen. 



83 



Matthew 20 : 1-16. 

LORD JESUS, master of work and 
rewards, help us to be glad 
when thou art especially gen- 
erous to others! Grant that we may 
not give way to envy or mean-spirited 
eagerness to gain reward for our- 
selves. Teach us, we pray thee, a 
quiet trust in thee as "the Master of 
all good workmen," and may we re- 
joice in the work itself because of 
thy willingness to use us at all. May 
we learn to see in the very doing of 
our task the end and aim of our most 
devoted service. Lord, is it not 
enough that thou dost depend upon 
us for even the least task of thy choos- 
ing? Oh, may we be so taken up with 
the work itself that we shall forget 
about our wages! In thy dear name 
we ask it. Amen. 



84 






Mark 16 : 1-18. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for the 
coming of thy Son to live the 
life of service and perfect purity. 
Along the path of these last weeks of 
new acquaintance with him, we look 
with eager joy to trace the new revela- 
tions of his love, his courage, his 
loving-kindness and brotherly walk 
with the needy and the forlorn. Re- 
mind us this day of our debt to him, 
by a quickened sense of the unspeak- 
able love by which he came to earth, 
and the healing, restoring, uplifting 
power with which he made life new 
for the helpless and the hopeless and 
the fearful of heart. May we yield our- 
selves freely to his guidance in the 
path to power! Amen. 



85 



Luke 9 : 51. 

LORD JESUS, we lift our prayers 
to thee this day in humble 
gratitude for the revealing of 
thyself in our daily lives. Not 
through us, but to us, in countless 
loving ways art thou revealed. Thy 
ministry in sorrow; the strong hand of 
thy power in the hours of discourage- 
ment; the assurance of thy strength 
in our weakness; the plain teachings 
of thy Word for our guidance, — all 
come from thee in abundance beyond 
our need. As we mark to-day the 
work of thy love among the needy in 
the crowd, or in the group of thy 
chosen disciples, may we be moved to 
draw very near to thee, bringing to 
thee our broken lives, our tangled 
problems, our feeble, halting wills. 
Help us to realize more keenly that 
we must live and breathe and work 
in a finer, clearer air, on higher levels 
of service. In thy dear name we ask 
it. Amen. 

86 



John i : 1-18. 

WE THANK thee, O God, for the 
life of thy Son, Jesus Christ 
— the life that was and is the 
Light. May we take up our new year 
of study to-day with that life as the 
light to lead us into a fuller knowl- 
edge of thee, and with a deep desire 
to let our own lives reflect the life 
of the Master with more fidelity than 
we have yet shown. Cleanse us, O 
God, from the blurs and the shatter- 
ings of sinful thoughts and deeds, and 
may we be able to see the glory of 
thy Son, because of a growing eager- 
ness to serve him. Amen. 



87 



John i : ig-34« 

OUR Father, we thank thee for the 
humility and straightforward 
honesty of John the Baptist. 
We thank thee that we have before 
us to-day this narrative of his free- 
dom from pride and selfish desire for 
honors. Take from our own lives, O 
Lord, the mean and sordid scrambling 
for place and credit, and may we see 
ourselves as we are, so utterly de- 
pendent upon thee that our own worth 
is nothing. Give unto us, we pray 
thee, simple humility and common 
honesty in our remembrance and dec- 
laration of what thou hast done for 
us; and to thee shall be the glory for 
every achievement of ours, great and 
small. Amen. 



88 



John i : 35-5i« 

IT IS with grateful hearts, our 
Father, that we thank thee for 
the privilege of discipleship. In 
thine infinite wisdom and tender 
mercy thou hast not left us to our- 
selves in the straggle for righteous- 
ness, but thou hast sent thy Son to 
be our companion, our teacher, our 
friend. Up through the thought of 
our unworthiness leaps the joy of that 
companionship, and our feet go firmly 
and our eyes are clear to see the way 
when we remember that he who was 
and is the V/ay walks with us. And 
may we do all that we can, while in this 
blessed fellowship, to win others one 
by one into the same close walk with 
thy Son, counting our companionship 
with him unavailing unless we are 
steadily leading others to him. Amen. 



89 



John 2 : 13-22. 

TO THEE we give thanks, our 
Father, for allowing these bod- 
ies of ours to be counted as the 
temples of God. Purify these tem- 
ples in such ways as may seem good 
to thee. Help us, we beseech thee, 
so to think and so to live that no un- 
clean thing may find an abiding-place 
in our thought or our doings. Father, 
we are ashamed when we remember 
what evil we have allowed to be at 
home in our lives. Cleanse us, O God, 
even though by the scourge. Amen. 



90 



John 3 : 1-21. 

HOW can we render unto thee, O 
God, our thanksgiving for bless- 
ings unbounded! Thou gavest 
us life, and in order that the life might 
not become death, thou gavest thy Son, 
to be our light and our life forever- 
more. When thou hast loved us to 
the immeasurable sacrifice of such a 
gift as that, who are we that we should 
withhold anything from thee? Grant 
that none of us may grieve thee by re- 
fusing the outstretched hand of thy 
Son, Jesus Christ, or disappoint thee 
by ignoring thy love made manifest 
in the gift of him who lived and died 
for us. Amen. 



91 



John 4 : 1-42. 

WE ARE grateful to thee, our 
Father, for life and abounding 
life on this thy holy day. We 
rejoice in the many evidences of thy 
care in the past week, and we look 
forward hopefully, trustingly, to the 
busy week upon which we are enter- 
ing. No good thing have we lacked; 
nothing that is for our good dost thou 
withhold from us. We have longed 
for much that would not have been 
best for us, and these things thou 
hast mercifully denied us. If only our 
thirst would ever lead us to thy Son 
for its satisfying ! Grant, O Lord, that 
to thee we may turn when desire is 
keen within us, and instead of the 
emptiness that we so often find in the 
thing we seek, may we find through 
thee the satisfying of every true need, 
regarding what is not of thee as un- 
worthy. Give us, we pray thee, that 
living water which thou hast prom- 
ised to those who ask it. Amen. 
92 



John 4 : 43-54. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for the 
health that thou hast given us. 
In mind and body thou hast 
blessed us, and thou hast taught us 
that we have need to look to thee for 
daily strength for the daily task. May 
we not take for granted the continuing 
of this blessing, but by prayer and 
the exercise of wisdom in doing with 
mind and body what pleases thee, may 
we daily remember our need of thy 
presence, and be at our best for thy 
service through a trustful, obedient 
walk with thee. Amen. 



93 



John 5 : 1-18. 

FOR every time we have been will- 
ing that thou shouldest keep us 
from sinning, we thank thee, our 
Father. For every word of warning, 
we thank thee. And we are unspeak- 
ably grateful to thee for thy patient 
love in the dark hours when, after 
we have done wrong, thou hast nev- 
ertheless given us light and hope, and 
courage to rise again. O God, we 
pray that we too may be made whole, 
even as thou didst make the poor man 
whole who had been helpless so long! 
We too are helpless without thee. 
May we look to thee, and obey thy 
call to the renewing of power within 
us for thy service. Amen. 



94 



John 6 : 1-21. 

OTHOU who dost know and sup- 
ply our every need, quicken us, 
we pray thee, to a keener sense 
of gratitude for all thy mercies. May 
we realize that thy providing care is 
not limited by the narrow bounds of 
what we think is reasonable, but is 
eager to do more than we can ask or 
think. And if thou dost choose to 
prove us by hard problems, may we 
remember that their solving is with 
thee, and not with us. Help us to go 
on trustingly, not concerned with to- 
morrow's outcome, but to do to-day's 
duty. Amen. 



95 



John 9. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that the 
light is not darkness to us: that 
the beautiful colors in the world 
about us are not shut away from our 
vision. We thank thee for the won- 
drous pictures that thou dost paint 
for us on the sunset skies, and for the 
clear shining of the stars through the 
deep darkness of the night. For all 
this we thank thee, our Father. And 
we thank thee that thou hast opened 
the eyes of many among us who were 
once blind to the glories of thy son 
Jesus, so that they now can perceive 
the Light of the world, which Light 
he is. May every one of us who has 
been so blessed with the ability to see 
thy wondrous work in earth and sky 
be blessed with open eyes to see the 
yet greater wonder of thy love moving 
in the hearts of thy children, to their 
quickening and saving. May every 
one of us let thy light shine into our 
lives unhindered. Amen. 
96 



John 10 : 1-18. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for the 
shepherding care bestowed upon 
us by thy Son. We are indeed 
like the stupid sheep, wandering often 
from the fold of thy love, yet con- 
strained to safety and shelter by the 
love that will not let us go. Forgive 
our erring footsteps, our keenness for 
strange pasturage, and help us, we 
pray thee, to hear our Shepherd's 
voice more clearly, to follow his guid- 
ance unswervingly, and in him to find 
the abundance of life which he has 
made possible for us in the laying 
down of his own life. Amen. 



97 



John ii : 1-57. 

WE THANK thee, O God, for the 
gift of life, for the privilege of 
living day by day among our 
friends and in the midst of many du- 
ties. We thank thee that life is a 
struggle, and a victory over the daily 
assaults of death upon us. These 
bodies that thou hast given us need 
daily upbuilding; this spirit daily 
renewing, and, without thy sustaining 
power we know that we could not 
overcome the wear and tear of the 
contest. In thee is life, and to thee we 
turn confidently day by day for the 
renewing of the life in us. Grant unto 
us, we pray thee, the power to live to 
the fullest possibilities of service here, 
and the continuance of life with thee 
through the endless ages of the life 
thou dost promise to thy faithful chil- 
dren. Amen. 



98 



John 12 : i-ii. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
on every side thou hast set be- 
fore us the gain of loss. The 
springtime flowers, coming into life 
about us, tell of the seed that fell into 
the ground to die; the mother-love 
spent freely for us day by day, poured 
out with no thought of the cost, 
moves us to understand more clearly 
thy love; the patient teacher, bringing 
to us at great cost of time and earnest 
study, the truth of thy Word, leads us 
to understand the teaching-life of thy 
Son Jesus, who spent himself for 
man. O God, may we not be slow to 
pour out lavishly the strength that 
thou hast given us, our best treasures 
of mind and body, in our worship of 
thee and work for thee! Forgive us 
if we have withheld our best, prof- 
fering unto thee in the Judas spirit 
nothing that costs us any sacrifice, and 
teach us to count nothing of ours too 
dear to yield to thee. Amen, 
99 



John 13 : i-20, 

LORD, thou hast indeed loved us to 
the uttermost! When we have 
walked with thee, not compre- 
hending the depth of thy love; when 
we have wandered from thee, careless 
of that love; when we have turned our 
steps straight toward the world and 
away from thee, yet thou hast loved 
us even then to the uttermost. And 
what may we do to tell thee in some 
way our unspeakable gratitude for thy 
forbearance, thy constraining hand, 
thy continuing love toward us? We 
would not do this by words alone, but 
we pray for the will to serve, even as 
thou didst serve, and thus render unto 
thee a joyous sacrifice of love, as 
bond-servants of the serving Christ. 
Grant unto us the readiness to humble 
ourselves in the exalted duty of fol- 
lowing thy example in the whole spirit 
of all our daily living. Amen. 



100 



John 14. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
there is peace for troubled 
hearts, that there is a home for 
us, and a Way to that home, provided 
by thy love. Forgive us, we beseech 
thee, for the blindness which has kept 
us from seeing thee in thy Son, who 
is that Way; and help us to have the 
perfect peace of walking with him. 
May we show our love to him by keep- 
ing his commands unquestioningly, 
faithfully, with the constant sense of 
the presence of the Comforter, the 
Holy Spirit whom the Father has sent 
to abide with us. Amen. 



101 



John 15 : 26 to 16 : 24. 

OUR Father, thou hast ever sought 
to lead us to the truth. How 
blind and wayward we have 
been! How desperately set in our 
own ways! How heedless of thy 
leadings! Forgive us for the perver- 
sity which has kept us from the com- 
panionship of thy Spirit, from the up- 
holding power of the Comforter. 
Grant unto us a new sense of our need 
of thy Spirit in our lives to reveal the 
truth unto us and to strengthen us 
for the daily task. Amen. 



102 



John 18 : 1-27. 

OUR Father, we turn to thee with 
grateful hearts for thy forbear- 
ance. Much as we have grieved 
thee, often though we have failed to 
show ourselves thy followers, still 
thou hast not given us up. We pray 
that thy tender mercy may so impress 
us that we shall be shamed out of our 
faithlessness, and that we may become 
sturdy and unyielding in our allegi- 
ance to thee. Forbid that any of us 
should sink to the dreadful depths of 
any betrayal of thee. Uphold us, our 
Father, lest we ourselves should do 
that which we count traitorous in 
others. Save us, we pray thee, from 
the depths of such infamy, and grant 
unto us boldness and courage in our 
service of thee. Amen. 



103 



John 19 : 17-42. 

WHO of us is worthy this day to 
draw near to thee, O God! 
Thou hast given unto us thine 
only Son, our Saviour, to live and to 
die for us, and some of us have not 
even accepted thy gift. Still others 
among us have named his name, and 
have not yet fully given themselves to 
him. All of us have come short of 
understanding him, of serving him as 
we ought. Teach us this day the les- 
son of his love for us so clearly that 
we may no longer be willing to with- 
hold from him the love and service we 
owe. May we gladly give ourselves to 
him for whatever use it may seem 
good to him to make of us. Amen. 



104 



John 20 : 1-18. 

WE thank thee, our Father, that in 
the very hour of utmost sor- 
row and disappointment thou 
dost speak to us through thy Son. Be- 
cause he is risen, we too can rise. 
Because he is near, we can rejoice. 
And his steadying word to every one 
of us speaks through our confusion 
and despair in that moment v/hen we 
are about to yield our hope of his 
presence and power. Forgive us, dear 
Lord, that we have ever thought of 
thee as distant from us, and teach us 
in every hour of the day to listen for 
the sound of thy voice speaking 
through every problem, every doubt, 
and even calling us by name. Amen. 



105 



John 20 : 19-31. 

IN the midst of all our trials thou 
hast promised us peace, O God, — 
a peace that is too wonderful for 
us to understand, but so real that we 
cannot doubt its presence. Even as 
thou didst speak peace to thy disciples 
of old, so to us thou dost speak in 
these days. Even as thou didst an- 
swer every doubt of theirs, so thou an- 
swerest our doubts by pointing us to 
thy wounded, risen, peace-giving self. 
We pray that no one of us this day 
may miss the meaning of that peace, 
and the scattering of doubts that have 
troubled some of us. Help us to trust 
thee as the whole answer we need for 
all our problems, and may we have the 
good sense and the grace to come out 
squarely, as Thomas did, and ac- 
knowledge our devotion to thee. 
Amen. 



106 



John 21 : 1-25. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
dawn after darkness, for abound- 
ing encouragement after fruit- 
less toil, and for the presence of thy 
Son in every hour of need. When we 
look back over the long and blessed 
story of thy love to us, and when we 
look beyond to-day into the hopeful- 
ness of the still better days ahead, we 
are amazed at thy patience with us 
and thy tender care over us. What 
shall we do to show our gratitude? 
Suffer us to serve thee yet a little 
while, to feed even the least of thy 
Hock, to render unto thee the praise 
of entire devotion to thyself, in faith- 
ful service to those about us. Amen. 



107 



Acts i : 1-14. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee that 
in the hour of thine ascension 
thou didst clearly set thy follow- 
ers a glorious task. And even as they 
dared to face the world unafraid of its 
uttermost hatred, we pray that we 
may dare to do our far easier task of 
extending thy kingdom under the 
favoring surroundings of this later 
day. Lord, give us the little courage 
needed to speak for thee! Forgive us 
for the feebleness of our efforts to win 
others to thee, and help us, we pray 
thee, to put our lives without reser- 
vation into thy high service. Amen. 



108 



Acts 2 : 1-2 1. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
the promised Comforter has in- 
deed come to dwell among men. 
The days would be evil without his 
guidance in all our doings. The knowl- 
edge of his nearness gives us courage 
to press on toward truth and light. 
Forbid that we should so blind our 
eyes by sin that we can by no means 
discern him, and so close the door of 
our hearts that he can find no wel- 
come there. Give us, we pray thee, a 
keener realization of the Holy Spirit 
as our strengthener and guide, in the 
name of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 



109 



Acts 2 : 22-47. 

LORD JESUS, we rejoice that even 
as thou didst rise from the dead, 
so we too shall rise to be with 
thee. And we come to thee to-day in 
gratitude for the daily uplifting, when, 
without thee, we could not rise above 
the sins that lead only unto death. 
Help us, we pray thee, to continue 
steadfastly in thy teachings which 
ever lead us into life, and to turn reso- 
lutely from sin and its end in death 
even while we yet live. O Lord Jesus, 
who art exalted by the right hand of 
God, hear our prayer, and set about us 
this day the ever-new evidences of thy 
love. Amen. 



no 



Acts 3 : 1-26. 

LORD JESUS, we who have heard 
thy call to arise lift up our glad 
hearts in thankfulness to thee for 
thy great lovingkindness. Only by 
thy power are we able to walk with 
eagerness and joy along the path 
where once we could only wait miser- 
ably for help. Lord, give us the spirit 
of the disciples of old, who could not 
keep to themselves the blessings of 
thy love; and teach us liberality in the 
outgiving of thy gifts in such measure 
as we have received. So may we 
render praise and honor to thee in 
daily deeds of service. Amen. 



in 



Acts 4 : 1-31. 

LORD JESUS, give us the courage 
to speak out for thee. How 
bountifully thou hast poured into 
our lives the richness of opportunity 
unmeasured! And how dull and timid 
we have been in our words and deeds 
when thou hast set before us the mo- 
ment of opportunity to dare in thy 
name! Forgive our cowardice, dear 
Lord. Help us to be bold and instant 
in our service for thee, and forbid that 
we should deny thee by feeble asser- 
tions or laggard deeds. Amen. 



112 



Acts 4 : 32 to 5 : 11. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that we 
may always be sure of thee. 
When we discover in ourselves 
the willingness to deceive even in 
the least things, the cowardly desire 
to cover our misdoings with a lie, we 
turn away from these untrustworthy 
selves to find certainty and truth and 
perfect Tightness in thee. Lord, may 
we come to hate a lie as an abomina- 
tion unto thee, and may we be con- 
stantly testing our words and deeds by 
the pure truth which thou art. May 
we so dread the deadly refuge of a 
lie that we shall never seek security 
elsewhere than in the truth. We ask 
this in the name of thy son, Jesus 
Christ. Amen. 



Acts 5 : 17-42. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee that 
since thy coming the prison- 
doors of life have been flung wide 
open. No longer need we be the bond- 
slaves of self, but thy free men, mov- 
ing out into the open air of service and 
joy. Help us, we pray thee, to count 
our freedom as a glad bondage to thee 
in increasing service for thee. And 
may the memory of the dark hours 
when we were yet within the prison- 
walls of sin and self be a keen spur to 
the doing of our utmost in bringing 
others to a knowledge of thee and 
thine abounding grace and mercy. 
Amen. 



114 



Acts 6 : i to 8 : 3. 

LORD JESUS, in whose name men 
and women have gladly laid 
down their lives, give us a due 
sense of the debt we owe to these 
strong souls. May our hearts be 
stirred to a higher devotion by the 
courage and faithfulness of the mar- 
tyrs of the early days, until, in such 
simple ways as thou dost set before 
us, we may do nobly in thy name, 
to the measure of thy desire for 
us. And may we know that in humble, 
patient, unseen service, as well as in 
the world-famed deed of devotion, 
thou dost rejoice in the faithfulness 
of thy brethren, to the glory and 
honor of God, our Father. Amen. 



"5 



Acts 8 : 4-25. 

O MASTER of the heart, we thank 
thee for turning our hearts to 
thee by thy constraining love. 
We thank thee that thou hast en- 
folded us with light from thy Word, 
with the uplift of friendship, with the 
many duties of the day, to defend us 
from the onset of sin, and disloyalty 
to thee. May we yield fully to thy 
control, thy tender, sure guidance; 
and giving over our vanities of thought 
and deed, may we live out our lives 
without bitterness or iniquity, in the 
power of the freely-offered Holy 
Spirit. Amen. 



116 



Acts 8 : 26-40. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee that 
thou dost prepare the path along 
which thou sendest us. In des- 
ert or in city thou dost provide oppor- 
tunity for service, and we whom thou 
hast called friends are even less than 
servants when we rise not to meet the 
call. Give us, we beseech thee, a 
keener hearing when thou speakest to 
us, and ready speech when we may 
speak to others thy message. May we 
this day make thy Word, thyself, so 
clear to those whorn we teach that 
every hindrance to a full confession of 
thee may vanish, and new life open 
gloriously to those who listen and 
learn with open minds and wills sur- 
rendered. In thy dear saving name we 
ask it, Amen. 



117 



Acts 9 : 1-30. 

LORD JESUS, we bow in humble 
thankfulness to thee for thy 
patience with us. How often we 
have pained thy loving heart! How 
steadily hast thou loved us into the 
desire to serve thee most where hith- 
erto we have hindered thee most! 
Grant unto us this day, in the reclaim- 
ing of Saul, a vision of our own need, 
and turn every one of us to strong ser- 
vice and away from indifference or 
opposition to thee. Lord, the light 
has been shining upon us, and some 
of us do not yet see. Grant sight and 
strength and high purpose to every 
one of us, to the end that we may do 
our utmost to lead others to thee, who 
art the light and the life. Amen. 



118 



Acts 10 : 1-48. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
thy cleansing power clears life 
of the soil and stain of sin. 
How very tender and patient thou hast 
been toward us, when we have pre- 
ferred the unclean to the flooding of 
our lives by the lavish stream of thy 
love! And we have been so blind in 
our failure to perceive the brother in 
the man who seems beneath our 
notice. Forgive us for that failure. 
By heavenly vision, by the humiliating 
knowledge of our own natures, by the 
revelation of the clean hearts of hith- 
erto unliked people about us — by any 
and every means sent of thee, may we 
come into a finer spirit of brother- 
hood, a humbler desire to serve one 
another, in the name of Jesus, our el- 
der brother. Amen. 



119 



Acts ii : 19-30; 12 : 25. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee that 
even in our unworthiness thou 
hast called us to bear thy holy 
name. Who are we that we should be 
called Christians? For we have fol- 
lowed thee afar off, and we have 
earned that name by no merit of our 
own. But we rejoice that we may in- 
deed bear thy name among men, be- 
cause of thy choice of us, because of 
our choice of thee, our Saviour and 
our Lord. Help us day by day to be 
less unworthy of the gift of thyself, 
of thy dear name, and may we reso- 
lutely strive to exalt thy name among 
men by living as true Christians in 
faith and purity and self-sacrificing 
good works. Amen. 



120 



Acts 12 : 1-19. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
no prison bars can shut us away 
from thy love. We thank thee 
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor things present, 
nor things to come, nor powers, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other crea- 
ture, shall be able to separate us from 
the love of God, which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord. In thee, O Christ, is 
our hope of freedom from bondage to 
self and sin, our joy in the hour of 
abasement and trial. And as thou 
didst overcome even death itself in thy 
resurrection, so may we rise into the 
life which thou art, for service and 
allegiance in the endless life in which 
we may even now share in thy name. 
Amen. 



121 



Acts 13 : 1-12. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that 
the gospel of thy Son Jesus 
Christ is a world-wide message. 
We thank thee that we whose eyes are 
seeing day by day the wonders of thy 
love among men can dwell in the light 
that was shed abroad for us from the 
land of thy chosen people. May we 
in our turn be light-bearers to the 
lands where waiting millions sit in 
darkness, and may we be moved by a 
sense of unforgettable obligation to 
give as we have received, and to spend 
ourselves utterly in pushing far the 
bounds of the Kingdom of Heaven on 
the earth. We ask it in the name of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 



Acts 13 : 13-5^ 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
the patient outstretched hand not 
sparing in its bestowing of gifts 
upon us. We plead thy forgiveness 
for our blind refusal of thy choicest 
blessings, and we pray that love of 
self, pride, and vanity, may have no 
power to keep us in poverty of spirit, 
when thou art offering us wealth. 
Lord, may it never be needful for any 
messenger of thine to turn from us 
because of our hardness of heart. 
Keep us, we pray thee, sensitive to the 
touch of thy love. Amen. 



123 



Acts 14 : 1-28. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for the 
voices that speak to us of thee, 
in sky and sea, in forest and 
field. We pray that our ears may not 
be dull to hear thy call to turn from 
empty and foolish things unto thee, 
the living God. Help us, our Father, 
to remember thy bounty, not in mere 
acceptance of it, but by carrying the 
gospel message to those who have not 
heard. May the sunshine and the 
flowers, the song of birds, the laughter 
of little children, the music of the 
wind in the trees, be in our hearts to 
the quickening of all our being into 
thankfulness to thee for thy manifold 
blessings: in Jesus' name. Amen. 



124 



Acts 15 : 1-35. 

OUR Father, in thankfulness we 
come to thee, remembering the 
night of rest, and the new light 
of another day. Every day is the rec- 
ord of thy tender mercy, thy providing 
care, thy patient love. No need have 
we to put thy love to the test, for thou 
hast overwhelmed us with blessings 
beyond our most eager asking. Thou 
art in thyself promise and fulfilment, 
and we have found the yoke easy and 
the burden light in our co-work with 
thy Son, Jesus the Christ. Once more 
we renew our purpose to serve thee, 
once more we lift our praises to thee, 
for to us has come down the years the 
story of thy patient love to mankind 
everywhere, and the experience of it 
in our daily toil. Father, be with us 
in all that we do in the fulfilling of thy 
will, and save us for service in Jesus' 
name. Amen. 



125 



Acts 15 : 36 to 16 : 15. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the 
clear call to service in the need 
of our fellow-men. We thank thee 
that thy servants in the early days of 
thy church were swift to do thy will 
in answering that call. Grant that their 
courage and obedience may be ours, 
in these days when need is every- 
where, and so many temptations to in- 
dolence crowd upon us. Quicken us 
to regard others' needs as our obliga- 
tion to serve, and may we not be nar- 
row in our spending of the best that 
we have for our brethren near and far, 
as members of one family on the earth. 
Widen our vision of brotherhood, we 
pray thee, in thy name, and for the 
furthering of thy kingdom. Amen. 



126 



Acts 1 6 : 16-40. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee that 
in thy presence we may face all 
things, unafraid. With thee are 
courage and poise; with thee we can 
dare to meet any challenge of hard- 
ship or danger. Forgive our coward- 
ice, our doubtings, our restless worry, 
and bring us, if need be, by a very 
earthquake shock through the dark- 
ness and bondage of fear into the light 
and freedom of the life in thee. Help 
us, we pray thee, to live the saved life, 
the life of steady belief in thee, the life 
of unwearying service for thee. And 
may we in our spiritual awakenings 
not be content to have the new vision 
just for ourselves, but may we be 
mindful of our dear ones at home, to 
whom we may bear by life and word 
the gospel of the risen, serving, loving 
Christ. In that dear Name we humbly 
pray. Amen. 



127 



Acts 17 : 1-15. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
thine open Word. We pray 
thee that our minds may be 
open to receive it. Forbid that we 
should hinder the incoming of that 
word into our lives by pride, or in- 
difference, or disbelief. Keep us, we 
beseech thee, sensitive to its message, 
eager to learn from it, and free from 
the danger of self-satisfied guessing at 
truth when truth is so readily at hand. 
Make us teachable and thoughtful, our 
Father, as children who daily learn of 
thee; in Jesus* name. Amen. 



128 



Acts 17 : 16-34. 

OTHOU in whom we live and 
move and have our being, we 
thank thee that thou art not an 
unknown God, but even as a father 
very present in the life of thy children. 
We turn to thee for the fulfilling of all 
our needs. We seek not after thee in 
vain, but in the glad assurance of thy 
nearness to every one of us. Help us 
so to live that our daily thoughts and 
deeds may be in accord with thy will 
for us, and grant unto us the power of 
making very real to others the life of 
faith and service, in the name of thy 
Son Jesus Christ. Amen. 



129 



Acts 1 8 : 1-22. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
the vision of thyself that gives 
courage to us day by day. When 
thou art with us, whom shall we fear? 
And we thank thee that thou art ever 
with us for our guiding and sustaining. 
Help us, we pray thee, to live as in thy 
presence, putting aside the weight of 
worry, the chains of care, and speak- 
ing out boldly for thee in word 
and deed. Thou hast set us about 
with friends who are friends of 
thine, and we have help on 
every hand in living out thy will. 
Grant that we may not unwisely for- 
get whose we are and whom we serve, 
in days bright or dark; and that we 
may do our work peacefully, joyously, 
with no break in our courage. In the 
name of the strong Son of God we ask 
it. Amen. 



130 



Acts 18 : 23 to 19 : 22. 

O LIVING Word, we thank thee 
for thy prevailing power! We 
turn to thee in the conflicts of 
Jife, we seek thee in our need, and we 
find in thee sure guidance and the 
mighty spirit of conquering love. 
Help us, we pray thee, to hold fast to 
thy teachings, and may we dwell in 
the spirit of obedience and sensitive- 
ness to thy leadings, not grieving thee 
by hardness of heart against thy love 
toward us. Save us, Lord Jesus, from 
the evil that would possess us, and 
may Thy name be magnified in all our 
deeds, in Thy dear name. Amen. 



131 



Acts 19 : 23 to 20 : 1. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
making clear in thy life and 
teaching our chief business — thy 
service. Teach us the supremacy of 
our allegiance to thee as above all 
claims of money-profit. Help us, we 
pray thee, to count our business gains 
unworthy and empty apart from thine 
own approval. And when it is given 
to us to use great courage in standing 
out against unrighteousness of any 
sort, may we be strong in the knowl- 
edge that thy grace is enough to turn 
weakness into strength to meet every 
occasion. Put heart into us, Lord 
Jesus, for the day's work, and use our 
weakness, we pray thee, to teach us 
thy power. Amen. 



132 



Acts 20 : 2-38. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
the spirit of self-sacrifice be- 
queathed by thee to thy follow- 
ers. We thank thee that self may be 
denied, put out of remembrance, and 
that thou mayest come into full con- 
trol in us. Help us to count life only 
as means of service, material for use in 
the upbuilding of thy Kingdom. Grant 
us the vision of a goal far more desir- 
able and worthy than the keeping of 
life, even the goal of complete and un- 
reserved spending of ourselves for 
thee. Teach us, we pray thee, the folly 
of withholding anything from thee, 
and the high wisdom of devotion to 
the uttermost in thy service. In the 
name that is above every name we 
ask it. Amen. 



133 



Acts 21 : 1-17. 

OUR Father, giver of every good 
gift, we thank thee for the life 
that thou hast given us to use 
for thee. Grant unto us a true under- 
standing of our stewardship, so that 
we may have no purpose to possess 
for ourselves in cautious withholding 
the life that is thy gift, but to spend it 
freely for thee. May we be ever ready 
to yield for thy purposes whatever we 
have in our keeping, and grant that our 
courage may not fail under any test of 
danger or loss. Help us, we pray thee, 
to endure to the end of our journey in 
uncomplaining giving without selfish- 
ness, in Jesus' name. Amen. 



*34 



Acts 21 : 17 to 22 : 29. 

LORD JESUS, thou who didst en- 
dure with patient courage the 
hardness of thy daily task, help 
us, we beseech thee, to share with 
thee joyously the spirit of endurance. 
Help us not to love ease, but to do 
hard things gladly, to the end that 
we, as thy soldiers, may be good 
soldiers, able to render valiant serv- 
ice for thee. Grant that we may 
grow in strength by the overcoming 
of our cowardice, our indolence, our 
unwillingness to suffer, and may we 
keep strong in the knowledge that 
thou art with us in sustaining love. 
Amen. 



135 



Acts 22 : 30 to 23 : 35. 

OUR Father, we thank thee that thy 
providence sets barriers across 
the path of evil desires. How 
often thou hast hindered our wrong 
purposes! How securely thou hast 
sheltered us from the evil purposes of 
others! Remind us, we pray thee, by 
this lesson of thy care, that we too are 
in thy keeping. When we dread the 
coming day, quiet our faithless fears. 
When we are tempted to the sin of 
worry, steady us, we beseech thee, 
with a consciousness of thy loving in- 
terest in our doings, and help us to 
rest and to work in quiet confidence in 
thee. Amen. 



136 



Acts 24. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
the warnings of conscience in 
our fight with temptation. May 
we be more sensitive to its prompt- 
ings, and less willing to silence its 
voice. Help us, we pray thee, so to 
live that no one shall be drawn away 
from thee by any word or deed of 
ours, and may we be strong to de- 
clare our loyalty to thee in the face of 
taunts and dangers as true soldiers of 
the Great Captain of our Salvation, 
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 



137 



Acts 25 : 6-12. Chapter 26. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee for 
such glimpses as we have had of 
thee, through the mists of our 
human blindness. Thou hast been 
revealed in thy love and power 
these many centuries, and we have 
not been able to see thee clearly 
because of our own sins. Forgive 
us, we beseech thee, for thus losing 
the vision. Help us so to see thee 
that we may not be disobedient to the 
heavenly vision of thy leadership in 
life, of thy loving care, — indeed, of thy 
very self in all perfection of goodness 
and truth. Clear away for us, since we 
are so needy and so helpless by our- 
selves, the mists of sin, and lift us into 
purity and sunlight. In thy name we 
ask it. Amen. 



138 



Acts 27 : 1-26. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
the surprises of life, turning us 
to utter dependence upon thee. 
When all is easy for us, and the wind 
is gentle and favoring, we too readily 
forget thee and our need of thee. But 
when tempests come, and sun and 
moon and stars go out, whither shall 
we go for shelter but to thee? Remind 
us, by tempest if need be, of our con- 
tinued need of thee. Help us to give 
over our vain reliance upon self and to 
learn the deep lesson of our helpless- 
ness and thy sufficient love. Amen. 



139 



Acts 27 : 27 to 28 : 10. 

LORD JESUS, in whose love we 
abide, we thank thee for the 
steadying touch of thy hand in 
the hour of distress. To thee we turn 
when the dark is about us, when we 
are driven to and fro we know not 
whither. Teach us also the daily walk 
with thee in the light, the sweet com- 
panionship of thy presence in our joys 
as well as in our troubles, and help us 
to realize the perfect security of simple 
trust in thee, and the solid ground of 
belief in thee, the Son of God, our 
Saviour. Amen. 



140 



Acts 28 : 11-31. 

LORD JESUS, for whom men and 
women and children have laid 
down their lives, we lift up our 
hearts in gratitude to thee for thy life 
outpoured for us. Forgive us, we 
pray thee, for withholding anything 
from thee. Forgive us for our anxiety 
about ourselves lest we should give 
thee too much of our time and 
strength, and for our gloomy faces and 
hesitating footsteps, as we look 
doubtingly along the path of thy 
making. Give us, we beseech thee, 
no less than the spirit moving in the 
will of the great Apostle to enable us 
cheerfully and bravely to do thy will, 
Christian soldiers unafraid. Amen. 



141 



Romans 13 : 8-14. 

/^\UR Father, we thank thee for the 
v-^ power to overcome in the time 
of temptation. We thank thee 
for the call to awake from the sleep 
of indifference, for the day of rejoic- 
ing at hand, for the armor of light 
ready for our using. And we pray 
thee that we may hasten to cast off 
the works of darkness, the burden of 
sin, the chains of low living in 
thought and deed, and to put on the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Grant unto us 
strong hearts to meet the onset of 
temptation, clear visions of thee, and 
a safe journey through life to the hon- 
oring of him whose we are and whom 
we serve. Amen. 



142 



Romans 14 : 10-21. 

LORD JESUS, we thank thee that 
in following thee we have no 
occasion for stumbling. Thou 
art ever sure to lead us aright. In 
thee is all wisdom and foreseeing for 
our guidance and sustaining. Endow 
us, we pray thee, with thy spirit in 
all our dealings with others, that we 
may lead none into sin, that we may 
never be a stumbling-block to any. 
Help us gladly to give up whatever 
we have done that is harmful to 
others, and create in us the will to 
be unselfishly careful in word and 
deed to harm no other human soul. 
Amen. 



H3 



Romans 14 : 12-23. 

OUR Father, it is good to come to 
thee with our sorest tempta- 
tions. Thou knowest how hard 
it is for us to keep out from our 
thoughts the harmful and the unclean. 
And when we draw near to thee in 
prayer, we cannot hear thy voice, we 
cannot even think the thoughts that 
have any place in communion with 
thee unless we let go the thoughts 
and imaginations of evil. Father, we 
thank thee that thy presence with us 
means purity for us; that through 
prayer is the power found to over- 
come the testings of evil. May we 
fight the evil that besets us, not 
merely for our own cleansing, but 
for the saving of those about us. 
Grant that no one may be led into 
the shadow of evil by any deed or 
word of ours, but may we be mes- 
sengers of purity and strength to all 
who are touching our lives in any way, 
Amen. 

144 



i Corinthians 10 : 23-33. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
the constraining power of thy 
love toward us, by which thou 
dost draw us ever toward purity. We 
thank thee for every impulse that we 
have toward the right, and for the 
strength to resist the tug of evil de- 
sires. Forbid that we should be a 
stumbling-block to any. Grant, we 
beseech thee, that we may lift up 
others who have already stumbled 
into sin, and help us to be strong 
and very courageous in our warfare 
against strong drink, the blighting 
enemy of the Kingdom. We rejoice 
in the victory of thy children through- 
out the land over the dread enemy 
of youth. Continue us in purpose 
and power, O God, to the utter abol- 
ishing of the liquor traffic, to the 
end that the curse of strong drink may 
be removed from the face of the earth. 
In Jesus' name, we ask it. Amen, 

145 



i Corinthians 13 : 1-13. 

OUR loving Father, we thank thee 
that thy love is toward us with- 
out ceasing. We thank thee 
that we may know thou art love, and 
that we may turn to thee confidently in 
every need and with every worthy de- 
sire. Thou who art love never faileth, 
and thou dost abide when all else has 
passed away. To thee we come for 
fulness of power and of joy; to thee 
we pray for the spirit of longsuff ering, 
kindness, humility, patience, to the end 
that we may show forth in all our 
words and deeds thy love, in the name 
of thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen. 



146 



2 Corinthians n : 21 to 12 : 10. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
thy tender care in the midst 
of dangers seen and unseen. 
Hitherto hast thou led us, and we are 
here because of thy providing and pro- 
tecting love. Reveal very clearly to 
us, we pray thee, the daily duties be- 
cause of which we are saved by thee 
for service. Incline us to the cour- 
ageous facing of the hard work that is 
ours in home and school and in busi- 
ness, and may we never shirk, or do 
scantily, the blessed tasks to which 
thou dost call us, knowing that when 
we are weak and helpless thou dost 
supply all needed strength. May we 
lose ourselves, and find thee in the 
daily task, in Jesus' name. Amen. 



H7 



Ephesians 5 : 6-21. 

^\UR Father, we thank thee that as 
^-^ little children we did not at first 
walk alone, but, in thy loving 
provision for us, mother-love taught 
us our first steps. And now that we 
are no longer helpless, we thank thee 
that we may still count upon thy love 
in keeping us in the right path, in 
keeping our feet from dangerous ways. 
Thou hast given us sight and touch 
and hearing, and control over our will, 
and thou hast taught us to avoid 
the unsafe and the treacherous. May 
we to-day learn with new impressive- 
ness the safety of abstaining from 
strong drink, and the danger of taking 
it at all. O Father, in thy tender love 
forbid that any one of us or any of our 
dear ones may be wrecked by the fool- 
ish beginning of a wrong course, but 
that all of us may keep clear of the 
danger that lurks in the least yielding 
to the temptation of strong drink. 
Amen. 

148 



i Thessalcnians 5 : 12-24. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
the clear light from thy Word 
on our daily path. When the 
confusion of our unworthy longings, 
our mean and narrow motives, would 
cause us to be disloyal to thee, thy 
Word points the plain way to service. 
Help us, we pray thee, to hate evil and 
to cleave to the good so strongly that 
we shall have no evil gifts to render 
miserable those to whom we are 
tempted to bring evil word or deed. 
Take away from us, we beseech thee, 
the passion for squaring accounts in 
the same coin with those who have 
used us despitefully, and may gentle- 
ness and fairness, gratitude and gener- 
osity, be our purpose and practise 
without ceasing. In Jesus' name, 
Amen. 



149 



2 Timothy 4 : 1-18. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for 
the testimony of thy servants 
of old to thy promised presence 
in all our ways of duty. In the dark 
and in the light thou art near. Even 
prison walls and angry mobs and the 
wild sea-tempest avail not to shut 
us away from thee. May we no 
longer move with hesitating step 
along the daily path, feebly doubt- 
ing and groping, but may we be 
sober, urgent, courageous, speaking 
out for thee, and serving to our 
utmost through the unending fight, 
in faith, to the end. Steady us, 
strong Son of God, for the brave 
doing of duty. In Jesus* name we 
ask it. Amen. 



ISO 



Hebrews n : 1-40. 

LORD JESUS, with grateful hearts 
we turn in faith to thee this day. 
Thy love has inspired men to 
walk with thee in the dark as well as 
in the light. When we could not see, 
we were the more sure of the way be- 
cause of thy more complete leading. 
As we study to-day the story of faith- 
ful servants in the olden days of thy 
care, may we realize anew the su- 
preme power of faith in these later 
days of thy continued guarding. En- 
able us, we pray thee, to forsake our 
foolish reliance upon our shortsighted 
vision, and to rely upon the sure pro- 
vidings of thy love for our coming ex- 
periences. May we live joyously in 
the knowledge of our own inability to 
find our own way, and in the certainty 
of thine all-wise leading. In thy name 
we come with our earnest prayer to 
thee. Amen. 



151 



James 2 : 14-26. 

LORD of our faith, and Master of 
every good work, we thank thee 
that through man thou dost 
choose to forward the progress of thy 
Kingdom. How little we have given 
thee of ourselves to use in thy service! 
How fitful and faltering has been the 
faith in which we have done the work 
committed to our care! Defend us, we 
pray thee, from the dying out in us of 
faith, and from the failing of good 
works, and help us one and all to work 
with ever-growing power, ever-increas- 
ing faith, to do thy will unto the per- 
fection of our faith, in Jesus' name, 
Amen. 



152 



James 3 : 1-12. 

OUR Father, we thank thee for the 
gift of speech, for the power of 
language, for the blessing of 
speaking with one another as we 
go about our daily tasks. Help us, we 
pray thee, to think loving thoughts, so 
that we shall not be led to say hard 
things. Keep us from uttering the 
cruel word, from thus striking at the 
very heart of friendship. And may we 
keenly realize that we do need thy 
help day by day in curbing the hot and 
hasty impulse to say what, once said, 
cannot be unspoken. Oh, grant that 
in our hearts we may regard others 
with such consideration, such tender- 
ness, such understanding, that we shall 
no longer even have the wish to send 
forth barbed and bitter words to the 
hurt of any human soul. We ask this 
in the name of the Christ who loved 
his enemies, tenderly taught in love 
his wayward friends, and who has been 
so patient with us. Amen. 
153 



MAY 3 1S11 



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Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
f7?4W79-2111 






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One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



HAY 3 19f? 



